Hope — it was a word Lawrence Phipps, pastor of Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery, had on his mind as he took the stage for the convention sermon at the close of the annual meeting Nov. 14.
“I want to talk about finding hope today, and the fact that we need to find hope is because we live in a world where there is just an incredible amount of despair,” Phipps said.
“I’ve watched people lose their jobs, I’ve watched people lose their homes, I’ve watched people lose their families,” he said. “It’s a despondent time for a lot of people … and it’s a despondent time for a lot of churches.”
And people in the world are looking for answers.
“They’re not looking for somebody who looks as sad as they do and is as despondent as they are” — they are looking for someone whose countenance is lifted up, he said.
“What they’re looking for is real hope,” and Phipps said he wanted to talk about where that hope comes from.
He then pointed to Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost beginning in Acts 2:22, particularly where Peter quotes from Psalm 16. Our hearts need to be glad and our bodies need to be living in hope, Phipps said.
“I … want to talk about where I think hope comes from” and where we go with that hope, he said, presenting the audience with the acrostic HOPE.
The “H” stands for humility. Hope is fostered by humility, Phipps said, adding that our nation has been humbled.
There are businesses built on pride that have been humbled, churches characterized by pride that have been humbled and Christians living in pride who have been humbled, he shared. “What do we know about 2 Chronicles 7:14?” he asked. “We know that we as a nation are going to have to be humbled, we as Christians are going to have to be humbled if our land is going to be healed,” he said, adding that James said “if we will humble ourselves God will lift us up.”
Phipps pointed to the Great Commission and explained how hope is furthered with obedience, which is the “O” in HOPE.
“Living out what Jesus has to say is pretty tough, but it’s the heart of who we are,” he shared. “That obedience is so important because that is what furthers our hope — obedience to Jesus.”
He added, “That’s when we have to say, ‘Jesus, I’m going to follow You. I’m going to do what You tell me to do. I’m going to go where you tell me to go. … This is about following You and finding out what You want to do with my life and what You want to do in Your world. Jesus, that’s where I’m going to go.’”
The “P” is prayer. “You see, hope’s foundation is found in prayer,” Phipps said. “We spend a lot of time talking about talking to God … (but) … [w]e need to either be speaking or listening to God 24 hours a day. Most of the time we need to be listening.”
The “E” stands for evangelism. He said two things are killing today’s evangelism. The first is lifestyle.
“People won’t listen to what we have to say because we’re not living the way we need to live,” he said. The other problem is what he dubbed “pure laziness.”
Christians are not meeting those people who need a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
“At some point you have to get out and be willing to share Jesus with others,” he said.
“Our hope is in our humility, our hope is in our obedience, our hope is in our prayer and our hope is in our evangelism.
“People are looking for hope,” Phipps said. “They want to hear about hope. And you know what? We’ve got it.”
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